Cisco Investment, the venture capital arm of the networking equipment company Cisco Systems Inc. announced a $40 million investment in early stage Indian startups under the theme India Innovation.
Under the India Innovation theme Cisco Investments mainly focuses on product and technology startups which targets to the Indian as well as international markets. The first investment under the theme was made in Covacsis, a Mumbai based real-time analytics platform software provider catering to manufacturing production floors.
Cisco Investments made this announcement on Monday, 23rd June. This $40 million investment by the company is a part of the $250 million investment in India’s next generation startups including technology, big data, connected mobility, Internet of Things, storage, semiconductor etc. At present Cisco’s global investment portfolio is more than $2 billion.
Cisco has been actively investing in Indian startups in companies like Netmagic, Apalya and Aavishkaar. After all these investment the company is targeting more early stage startups to add to its global portfolio. India has witnessed high growth in the entrepreneurial culture in recent past years which have caught many international companies to make strategic investment in Indian startups. Before Cisco Investments, companies like Google and Intel are investing in early stahge Indian startups in various fields.
Commenting at this investment plan, Joydeep Bose, MD, Corporate Development, Cisco Asia Pacific and Japan shared,
“India is committed to rapidly building out its communications infrastructure, which presents a unique opportunity for local entrepreneurs to develop new technologies and applications. As a leading strategic investor, Cisco Investments is committed to support the building of entrepreneurial capacity and nurture the local early stage startup ecosystem in India. By spurring and accelerating technology innovation, we want to help India evolve as a global hub for innovation and help Cisco become a defining player in taking technology investment in the region to the next level”
